History And Culture Of The Negritude Movement - 1658 Words

Negritude refers to a cultural movement that was launched by French-speaking black graduate students back in the 1930s in Paris from Africa and the Caribbean territories of France s colonies. These black intellectuals gathered around issues of black internationalist and race identity initiatives to fight the imperialism by the French government. They found strength in their mutual idea of affirming pride in their shared African heritage and black identity and reclaiming self-respect, self-reliance, and African self-determination. The Negritude movement was a sign of an awakening of race wistfulness for blacks in the African Diaspora and those in Africa. This new race wistfulness stemmed from the rediscovery of an original self (of the†¦show more content†¦This alienation, coupled with the uprising movement of the American black renaissance of the 1920s, gave the African writers an impetus to publicly begin expressing and reflect upon their opinions about issues of cultural a nd racial identity. Through the use of the student newspaper - The Black Student, 1933-35 (L Etudiant Noir), as the kickoff point, the African intellectuals began sharing their opinions regarding the race by exploring the idea that there was a primary commonality across all the black cultures. Even though the paper fell over after a few years, the issues expressed within its pages were firmly established, leading to the birth of the Negritude movement. The term Negritude is believed to have been coined by Cesaire. In partnership with Senghor, Cesaire developed the basic theory behind the term Negritude. In essence, the negritude movement placed a deep emphasis on the uniqueness and the celebration of African and black traditions and culture. Ideas expressed in the newspaper - The Black Student were picked up by several other periodicals, such like Presence Africaine, and eventually, with the publication of literary works of poetry edited by Senghor. The works included the French aut hor s preface - Jean-Paul Sartre, dubbed, (1948; Black Orpheus) Orphee Noire, the movement was firmly formed (Bird, 2017). Senghor defined celebration of a black African identity as the main focus of Negritude through hisShow MoreRelatedIntellectual Of Electrical Engineering : The Negritude1305 Words   |  6 Pagesengineering The Negritude By the end of the 19th century, most of Africans were living under some form of European colonial domination. The history of Africa and its Diaspora was dismissed as insignificant at best, inexistent at worse. Black cultures were ridiculed, stereotyped, and scorned. 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